Hi there and welcome to the "Lock Down edition" of the blog.
As you may already know, in July last year I had the HUGE honour of being invited to join the talented folks that run "The Game Cupboard" blog, and considering the fact that Stevie, Hils and Tarot have been such an influence and inspiration to me since I entered the blogiverse, it was a somewhat daunting, but irresistible offer!
The original plan was that as well as writing posts for TGC, I'd continue posting here on my own blog, and combine some of the campaign material to form a joint narrative. Sadly with constraints on my free time this didn't happen, apart from " The Quest Finale ", and posts here slowed and quickly ground to a halt............
Until Now!
The emergency measures introduced by the government during the Covid-19 pandemic will mean a lot of time at home in isolation, and I'm so thankful that I have my hobby that I can turn to as a "coping mechanism" since we're in this for the long haul.
The plan is to make use of my weB LOG after this reboot, not just "restarting" it and running it as it was, but to log ALL of my hobby related activities as a kind of morale boosting progress report. I figure that if I can't make a significant dent in the piles of lead, plastic and mdf now, it's never going to happen!
Once I'd got over the 'system shock' of what was happening, the first job I tackled was the 28mm ruined village set of mdf terrain from JB Wargaming Scenery ("banksjohnedward" on ebay).
They took an evening to assemble, and I let the glue fully cure overnight before making a start on painting them decorators test pots and finishing them off with a home made wash. They'll get a bit of titivation and further weathering (to hide some of the joins) before their first use, but I could use them as they are so I'm calling them "done"!
Incidentally, they're intended for some planned WW2 skirmish games, but I hope I can get away with using them in other genres as well - zombie apocalypse and cyberpunk for sure, and some of 'em will be OK for fantasy and ECW (I hope).
So, we're back up and running and I do hope everyone reading this is staying safe and getting used to the "new normal" we find ourselves in.
Greg.
Great to see you back posting, and you're definitely out the starting gates with a flying start with those ruinous buildings. Very nice find via Ebay. Looking forward to seeing them in some of your ace BatReps :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's great to be back Simon, it's just unfortunate that it's due to such dire circumstances :-(
DeleteJohn's mdf buildings certainly provide plenty of bang for the bucks - this entire collection (including postage) only costs a couple of quid more than the Warlord Games ruined cottage.
They're also a darn sight easier to assemble than the multi-part plastic infantry, which are the next phase of the project :-)
You've been missed TWA, but it does sound like you've kept busy.
ReplyDeleteGood to see you're off to a good start. As the ruins are very generic imho they could be used for just about any period (especially in the privacy of your own home !).
Cheers Joe, work WAS quite hectic but of course, as soon as the advice to stop all social gatherings was announced, our cancellations poured in - which was a GOOD thing actually, because it took the decision out of our hands :-)
DeleteAs ever you're spot on with what you're saying, and these ruins WILL get used for loads of different genres - but I'll be selective over which ones appear here "in public" :-)
Welcome back Greg, missed your posts and comments on your blog while you've been off doing other things. Great start and look forward to seeing it develop
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Dave, and if I manage to get everything done that I've planned in my mind's eye, there will be quite frequent posts here to record progress :-)
DeleteI still check out your posts here and on TGC, so I'll make the effort to comment - as it'll be a benefit to me tbh - and as BT once said "It's good to talk".
ReplyDeleteI've just started on some npc miniatures as I want to have a try at solo-rpg, like yourself and others on the TGC blog.
Hi Roy and how are you doing? Totally agree "It's good to talk" - even though I THOUGHT I was quite happy while beavering away on todays hobby stuff, taking a break and "chatting" here at the keyboard has actually lifted my spirits another notch :-)
Delete(Just waiting for the chancellor's announcement later this afternoon to see if he can lift them further with his support for us self employed!)
Are you planning to go solo with "standard" rpg material, or using solo modules? Either way buddy, it's something I've been focussing on for a while now so please don't hesitate to ask ANY questions on the topic!
Yep, I'm fine, thank you. Sometimes I disappear down the ASD rabbit hole, so it is all about keeping as stress-free as possible.
DeleteEN Publishing O.L.D. rules (haven't decided if it will be Low, Medium or High Fantasy yet), which are the fantasy variant of the W.O.I.N. sci-fi rules Bryan 'Vampifan' shows over on his second blog. I've read through the Mythic GM Emulator and plan on using that system for the solo mechanics. I've never role-played before outside of Play By Mail/eMail games with a GM moderating, so I'm going to be keeping it small, easy to handle and slow.
Two npc miniatures painted today, most of a MDF cart and metal bullock to haul it painted also, and I got a couple more npc miniatures glued up last night. The two 'Heroes' were painted years ago, the terrain is all done, so that is only eleven other characters to get done before the dice start to roll. A 'quest' has been plotted out - mercenary work escorting a wagon to and from a farm to collect food for the settlement, brigands being the issue on the road - and I reckon that the Mythic GM Emulator should allow for some semi-random variation to the plot at points from start, middle and end should the dice roll for such outcomes. I'll sort out a blog for it in the next few days, also to help keep in touch with people.
I'll keep in mind what you've said about questions, thanks.
Savage Worlds used alongside the Mythic GM Emulator works really exceedingly well, for any genre.
DeleteAlways good to know such information. Thank you.
DeleteThese look pretty cool dude. Stay safe out there!
ReplyDeleteCheers Simon. "They'll do" is the local phrase here on the Notts/Derbyshire border, and hopefully I can improve them a bit over time. The important thing is that they give me a flying start towards covering the playing area in hard cover for some WW2 skirmishes :-)
DeleteNice looking buildings, Greg. I may have to look up this seller, as I can see a use for these buildings - or he may have other stuff more useful. Stay safe and enjoy catching up with hobby stuff - I've spent my first day in isolation gardening, as instructed by my wife. Hobby stuff hopefully soon - it's a small garden, so can't be that much more to do...
ReplyDeleteThanks Jez - I dunno if you "do" Farsebook, but he's currently running special offers on his page and selling off stock that WAS to be sold at shows which of course are now cancelled. Considering how cheap his mdf stuff is at 'full retail' this obviously makes them an absolute bargain.
DeleteThankfully, I've been able to convince my missus that the garden is still too wet(Shh! I know it's not) after all the rain we had :-)
Oh wow, I`ve been so snowed over prepping the garden and NOT looking at blogs at all, that I completely missed this. Those buildings are ru**y marvellous and you`ve really knuckled down well to it, AND the hobby. I`m really impressed.
ReplyDeleteThank you Stevie - it's a good job you like 'em cos it's your fault that I got 'em :-)
DeleteTheir next appearance will be on The Emerald Musketeers blog in the not-too-distant future!
Good to see you back Greg. The WWll sounds interesting, will you be going the nuts route or some other rule system?
ReplyDeleteMany thanks John, I just wish I had the free time under different circumstances.
DeleteI will be using Nuts! but I also want to try Ganesha Games "Flying Lead". The minis still need painting, but they shouldn't take too long :-)
I read a series of about 9 games posted by a guy I think from Sweden. He used Flying Lead, converted a bit because he set his games in a future Predator world but he was very enthusiastic about the rules.
DeleteI always meant to get hold of a copy and try them out. He didn't use them solo though, there was a group of four playing, so that might make a difference.
The Ganesha games mechanics are great for solo - the characters roll to activate each turn, "choosing" to roll 1,2 or 3 dice with each success allowing an action (so a cautious player would roll 1d6 and a rash player would roll 3d6) BUT rolling 2 or more failures on an activation roll results in a 'turn over' and initiative switches to the other side.
DeleteA simple solo mechanic is to have a d3 (or d6 counting 1-2 = 1 etc) and three more DIFFERENT COLOUR dice (I use red, yellow, green)
Roll all four dice for activation.
The d3 result is how many of the other dice "count", in order of priority (in my case red = first dice, yellow = second dice and green = 3rd. Easy to remember cos it's the traffic lights!)
Trust me, the above sounds much more complicated than it actually is :-)
Well come back Greg, I think in these dark days we're all grateful for this hobby of ours :)
ReplyDeleteCheers Frank - the hobby AND our online community makes a world of difference :-)
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